


Of Ants and Spider-Men

by GalactiGrumple, rogue_kind



Category: Ant-Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Cassie Lang Lives, First Meetings, Friendship, Hank Pym is Tired, Happy Hogan is Done, Magic Tricks, Minor Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Minor Scott Lang/Hope Van Dyne, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Other, Peter is a Babysitter, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Precious Cassie Lang, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Scott Lang, Protective Tony Stark, Scott Lang is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Has A Heart, iron dad & spider son
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-07-12 00:50:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15984065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalactiGrumple/pseuds/GalactiGrumple, https://archiveofourown.org/users/rogue_kind/pseuds/rogue_kind
Summary: Hank Pym is ready and willing to work with a Stark for the first time ever; but that means taking his daughter, lab and home arrested Scott Lang to New York. Peter Parker couldn’t be more excited when Tony tells him he gets the chance to meet Ant-Man and Hank Pym. Combined with an excitable 10 year old, an uprising gang war and magic tricks, this weekend might just be the origin story for Team SuperBugs.





	1. Welcome to New York

“Hey, bug-brain. Wake up.” Hope Van Dyne was shaking Scott Lang awake, scoffing at his laziness. Scott had fallen asleep over a lab table experimenting with the size regulator in his suit, the metal tweezers still in his fallen hand. He shook his head with a disgruntled jolt, muttering a “What, I wasn’t asleep shut up.” Hope smiled at him before turning away, walking towards a further corner of the lab.

Scott had embraced his escapes to the lab during his time on house arrest, even if it was still breaking the law and the deal he had cut with Thaddeus Ross to stay off the Raft. He had pleaded for Hank and Hope’s forgiveness as soon as he returned home, ashamed and full of guilt that his actions had the FBI hounding Hank for his contribution to superhero development, breaking the accords. Scott had since tried to make amends with his help in creating the retractable lab. It had taken some months of awkward silences and small grudges, but the father and daughter had finally accepted him back into their lives. When he didn’t have weekends with Cassie and wasn’t building up his Band Hero high scores or close-up magic skills, he had escaped to the lab working on suits with Hank and training with Hope as The Wasp. He especially enjoyed these times, their sparring sessions growing ever-more interesting as the two shrunk and grew to flip each other over. He always loved beating her, but secretly desired the seconds she overpowered him, sitting on his chest with a satisfied grin.

“Hey Scott, you fix that regulator yet?” Hank had come up behind him, viewing the mess of wires and tools on the benchtop.

“Uh yea, I just gotta counteract the default size settings with the growth regulations. Since my size is still so unpredictable I’d rather find a way to be my size than be stuck at 27 feet tall.”

Hope called from across the room. “Aww, but you looked so cute in that raincoat! And I bet it’s easier to pin you when you’re 4 foot!”

“Oh, I can take you out at any height honey.” Scott winked, but immediately retracted when Hank let out a forced cough. Hope turned away, grinning.

“So, I’ve got some news.” He continued, walking closer to his daughter. “We’re going to New York.”

“What?” Hope and Scott said at the same time, Hope’s concerned voice harmonising with Scott’s excitement. Hope shook her head, dropping the Pym Particle Disk mold with a clatter. “Why?”

“A certain Tony Stark is in development of a suit utilising nanotechnology, and he seems interested in the Pym Particle’s potential involvement.”

“But you hate Stark! And what’s he got to use the Pym Particle for?” 

“It’s just a meeting sweetie, and I’m just going because he basically begged me. I relish in watching a Stark squirm.” Hank looked satisfied with himself, turning away from his daughter’s still shocked impression. “Don’t bother packing, we’re taking the lab. Be ready in 20 minutes.”

“Woah woah woah, wait a second.” Scott interjected, shaking off his initial excitement and remembering his obligation to his daughter and illegal presence in the lab. He pushed out of the metal chair, its legs scraping across the floor and causing a grinding screech. He winced before continuing. “It’s my turn with Cassie this weekend. And I’m sorta already not meant to be here.”

“Bring her with you then, I need you to come.” 

“Why do you need me?”

“I might be working with a Stark, but I’m not letting one touch the suit.”

“I think you’re forgetting two very important things here.” Scott rushed his words, straining them so Hank wouldn’t interrupt him. “Number one, I’m not in Tony Stark’s good books right now, considering I just fought him and his clique.”

“Whilst subsequenting betraying us.” Hope chimed in. Scott waved his hand at her, turning back to Hank. “Details.” he muttered. “Number two, I’m not meant to leave my house, I’m already breaking the law being here.”

“And who’s fault is that?”

“Alright, alright, I get it, people make mistakes.”

“Except yours was a pretty royal screw-up.” Hope was now beside him, a devious smile on her face. Scott wanted to pretend it was just her way of saying ‘All’s forgiven because we can joke about it now’’ but was smart enough to realise she was digging at him because she still held resent. Hank cleared his throat again, breaking any romantic tension that may have existed between the pettiness.

“We’re already using a camera loop when you’re here, we can keep it running over the weekend.” Hank continued when he saw the anxiousness on Scott’s face. “Anyway, it’s all sorted. Part of the negotiation I made with Stark was your inclusion, i.e him not getting to kill you. As for Cassie, just bring her, I don’t plan on staying for more than the weekend.” Scott considered the deal for a moment. New York. He had only been once, splurging on a nice date with Maggie. It would be nice to get away from San Francisco but New York was a world away, and there were too many things that could go wrong should Jimmy Woo show up at his door unexpectedly. But Cassie would love it, Scott knew for sure. Maybe if he got the chance, he could take her to the M&M's World there, or one of those giant toy stores with the ferris wheels in it. The opportunity to see the huge smile on her face was too alluring, and Scott turned to Hank. He nodded. “Alright, I’m in. But we pick up Cassie when we leave.”

Hank nodded back in appreciation, now turning to his daughter. “Hope?” he said, his eyes pleading like a small puppy’s. She sighed, turning around the the elevator. She pressed the button to go up, the floor she had her bedroom on. “I’ll be waiting with the cars outside in 20 minutes, and I’ll shrink the both of you if you’re not out there.” The elevator doors opened and she stepped inside, jeering at Scott’s wink as the doors slid to a close.

***

Spider-Man was dangling his legs over the balcony of the Avengers Tower, admiring the view below him like ants running around a toy city. Well, it used to be the Avengers Tower, but since Tony had sold it off, it remained nameless. The new owners hadn’t bothered moving in yet, and Peter Parker took the opportunity to hang out on the roof, peeking into the large glass windows and spying on what used to be Tony Stark’s penthouse apartment. It was odd seeing everything so empty, but he enjoyed gripping onto the windows, goofing on what used to be and Iron Man landing platform and doing target practice on the large ‘A’ adorning the buildings side.

He was taking a break from swinging about the city, eating some Sour Worms to regain energy before going on another patrol. His suits AI chimed in, catching Peter by surprise. “Hello Peter. I see you’ve found a nice place to enjoy your snack.” Karen’s voice was sweet, as if she were a mother addressing her son. Sometimes Peter wondered if Tony had programmed his suit with her instead of F.R.I.D.A.Y because of this, but a lot of the time he disregarded this idea. 

“Hey Karen.” he said, voice slightly muffled by the gummies still in his mouth. “What’s up?”

“You have an incoming message from Tony Stark, would you like to open a video call?” Peter almost choked when she said the multi-billionaire’s name. Tony hadn’t called him in a while, only the weekly or so check-ups for reports on Spidey’s patrols. The last thing he would do is call him on duty, unless he tracked the suit and saw him at Avengers Tower…

“Crap.” Peter muttered, readjusting his mask and swallowing the rest of the sweets. He was probably gonna be pissed at him for hanging around when he knew he didn’t own the building anymore. “Uh, yeah put him through.”

As soon as he said it, Peter cringed at the sour taste on his tongue. A positive of the combination of spider-senses and sour worms was that the flavour was jacked to 11, but so was the face-puckering after effect. Tony Stark’s face appeared before Spider-Man’s eyes, his eyes hidden behind orange sunglasses and a questionable smirk. His wrinkles crinkled behind the lenses, but Peter recognised these as happy age rather than stress. His background suggested he was in a lab, probably at the Avengers Compound. Tony grinned at Peter’s sour expression, his smirk growing slightly. “Hey kid, why so sour?” he laughed at his own quip.

Peter grinned behind the mask, shaking off the sour taste and feeling his lips wobble in nervousness. “Hey Mr. Stark!” His voice shook slightly, but he tried untwisting his tongue and speaking properly; he had known him for almost a year now, there was no reason for him to still get anxious when he talked to him.

“Enjoying the view?” Tony asked, his smirk transforming into a shit-eating grin. “Hanging out on private property, tut, tut, tut Mr. Parker...”

“I’m sorry, but the view up here really is great. And the new people haven’t moved in yet so I thought-”

“Don’t worry kid, I don’t care. Not my place to worry about now.” Tony cut him off, waving his hand and brushing the topic over his shoulder. “I called ‘cause I’ve got some news for you.”

Peter’s mind suddenly kicked into 6th gear, hundreds of thoughts rifling through his head. Was Tony gonna ask if he wanted to be and Avenger again? Or was it a new mission abroad? Part of him hoped not, he promised to help out Ned with his Lego X-Wing after school on Monday, and travelling far would probably mean he would have to cancel… But what if it was a new mission? Would he meet more Avengers? He had always wanted to meet Thor, maybe he had come back to Earth for something?

“Hey kid, you with me?” Tony’s voice invaded Peter’s imagination, causing him to blush slightly.

“Yeah, yeah, what’s up?”

“I’ve got a deal set up with Hank Pym tomorrow morning, and I want you there.”

“Hank Pym? Like Pym Technologies Hank Pym? Creator of Pym particles Hank Pym?” Peter spoke rapidly, the excitement in his voice surging with every syllable. If this was the man who Peter thought Tony was talking about, then it would be incredible.

“Slow down kid, and yes, that Hank Pym.” Tony seemed slightly dimmed at Peter’s excitement, but continued. “I’m looking for expertise on nanotechnology, and I think the Pym particle might help me out in developing a new feature in my suit.”

“That’s so cool! You really want me to meet him?”

“Hold up a sec Parker.” Tony shook his head in a double take. “It feels like you’re more excited to see this guy than seeing me?” Peter knew he was joking from the over-acted offended tone and grin, but he nonetheless rushed to rectify his speech.

“Well I mean meeting you was definitely the coolest thing ever to happen to me since you gave me the suit and took me to Berlin and all that, but the stuff I’ve read about Hank Pym is insane! And I totally have to see his stuff about Ant-Man, he’s so cool!” Peter gushed. He had been reading about Pym Industries for years, both in and outside of school. A lot of the projects they had been up to remained pretty private until the big launch of the Yellow Jacket, which was prevented by the newest hero (besides himself) Ant-Man. Peter had read extensively any police reports and eyewitness accounts of the event, and was secretly over the moon when he got to meet him - well, fight him - in Berlin. He regretted having to see him arrested in the aftermath, but divertered his attention to staying close to Tony, who was distraught after Rhodey was shot out of the sky.

“Well aren’t you lucky then, Pym’s insistent that Lang comes up with him.” Tony commented with slight annoyance. Peter supposed that he was still testy with him after the fight, and held a grudge against him for being on the winning side. “Meetings’ at 9:00 am tomorrow, Happy’ll pick you up outside your house at 8:45. You in?”

“Absolutely, thank you so much Mr. Stark! I’ll see you tomorrow!” Peter cried, swinging his legs around to stand up, stretching his arms. His excitement couldn’t be contained, and he prepared himself to start swinging again. The sun was starting to dip below the horizon anyway, meaning in a few minutes Aunt May would start worrying if he wasn’t home.

“Say hey to May for me. And Peter?”

“Yeah?” 

“Don’t get killed on the way home?” Peter stuck out his tongue before ending the call, instantly blushing as he realised how embarrassing and immature that was. But he didn’t linger over the thought, double checking his web shooters before swan diving from the balcony’s edge, deploying his web wings and gliding over the city. He wondered if this was the view that Ant-Man got when he grew to his gigantian size, towering over buildings and people. Spider-Man let out a laugh as he somersaulted, retracting his wings and shooting a web onto a traffic light. He swung low and took off into the sky, seemingly flying back to the apartment to tell May about his weekend plans.

***

Peter couldn’t help but bounce on his heels waiting outside his apartment building the next morning. It was a cold Saturday, Peter donning jeans and a blue sweater over a collared shirt. He wanted to look nice for Tony, Hank and Scott, even asking May to fix his hair up properly. With his suit and web shooters tucked into his backpack, Peter had left the apartment much earlier than planned, the anticipation of sitting in the apartment and waiting for 8:45 to come around too much to bear. He had been standing out there for half an hour when Happy rolled up in his car, right on schedule. Peter noticed Happy glance at him and take a deep breath before unlocking the car door, preparing himself for interaction with his energetic and curious self.

“Hey Happy!” Peter greeted him cheerfully, grabbing the back door handle. He heard Happy groan, which only made him laugh. Throwing his bag into the opposing seat, Peter settled into the comfortable leather and buckled his seat belt. “What have you been up to?”

“Nothing much, but I do have this recurring spider problem. Really annoying me, I swear can see and hear them everywhere.” He was very monotone, but Peter detected some gripe in his words.

“Har, Har.” Peter replied. “Where is this place anyway?”

“Not far, but far enough.” He replied, still slightly cold.

“Where’s Mr. Stark?”

“Coming separately. He’s been seen around here a lot, it’s attracting too much attention. Stop asking questions.” He finished. Peter decided to abide by this request, knowing that Happy would just get more irritable. He liked to annoy the guy, but since the Vulture he had tried to be a little nicer in his texts and patrol reports.

The car passed by suburbia quickly, the buildings shrinking in size with each block until they reached the outskirts of the city. Peter recognised the road they were driving on, himself rolling Flash’s dad’s care down the same strip. Spying the lampost, he could see the slight distortion in the metal where he pulled from an attached web. Some fragments of glass shone in the sun, lighting up the sewer grate they lay against. Peter laughed at the memory, and thought about the weekend he spent driving with May a few weeks after the incident. She had held her heart when he told her about the totalled car, and made sure to triple check every contingency as they rolled around and empty car park in the dead of night. Peter was surprised to notice the car pulling into a large flat base, a construction site not far from the old warehouse where he faced the Vulture. He spied the ruins of the building behind an abandoned steam roller, and shuddered at the memory of his near-death experience. Happy stopped the car by a marked line in the dirt spray painted blue surrounded by a large rectangle of plastic fencing. He opened the door for Peter, the boy confused to see the empty site, no sign of Tony, Hank Pym or Ant-Man. Why would they arrange an important meeting - especially one about science and advanced technology - here, of all places?

“Wait here.” Happy said, stepping back into the car. Peter was about the protest, but the car had already disappeared into a cloud of dust, abandoning him at the entrance of an unbuilt foundation. Excitement was quickly shifting into anxiety, as Peter’s enhanced senses seemed to dial up to 11 and notice every natural noise and movement. He held his bag tighter in his arms, feeling the mould of his web shooters through the fabric. The rubble of the warehouse sat across the way, staring at Peter menacingly. It seemed to grow closer the more Peter averted his eyes from it, the smell of concrete in his nose, the sound of tumbling rubble and dripping water, dust and dirt seeping into his lungs, the weight of the entire world on his back, pinning him to the broken ground and- 

“Kid? You OK?” Tony Stark was standing next to him,his arm on the boy’s shoulder. Peter hadn’t realised he was started to shake violently and shut his eyes tight until he felt his touch.

“Mr. Stark! Uh, yeah! I’m fine!” Peter opened his eyes and tried to play it away with a laugh, but still shrunk away from his mentor’s concerned expression. He could see his eyes from behind the dark sunglasses, shifting with concern. He regarded the rest of his outfit; he looked well dressed today. A grey suit pants and blazer covered a loose white dress shirt, the top three buttons left undone. His shoes were of the expensive variety, the sheer price acting as a forcefield against the dirt and dust on the ground. Peter then noticed the even more expensive cad in front of him, a Stark Industries Auto Car, something Tony had yet to release on the market. “Nice car.” he muttered, staring at the sleek black shape. 

“Uh yeah,” Tony hesitated, but withdrew his arms from Peter’s shoulder to press his hand against the window. “Might as well send it back home now.” A blue outline traced his hand for a moment before the car began to slowly edge forward, suddenly zooming out of the lot and own the street. There was silence for a moment before Peter spoke up.

“Um, Mr. Stark?”

“Mmm?”

“Um, why are we at an empty construction site? I thought we were meeting Mr. Pym?”

“Well, since I sold Avengers Tower and he’s refusing to go to the lab at the Compound,” Tony finished with some spite in his voice. “He’s bringing his lab to us.”

Peter thought for a minute, imagining a house on a truck, or a really small van that opens up like a Harry Potter tent. Tony muttered something about being late, when a rickety white van pulled into the plot. Peter looked up at Tony and almost laughed at his squinted eyes and annoyed expression, as if he was bracing himself for a tiresome day. The white van puffed and spluttered to a stop, smoke billowing from the exhaust pipe. The sliding doors opened and out stepped Scott Lang, yawning and stretching his arms towards the sky. He wore an old band t-shirt Peter didn’t recognise, his jeans faded and crinkled. It looked like he had fallen asleep and had a rude awakening, his voice warped but exhaustion. “Jeez Hope, you couldn’t have picked a more comfortable ride?”

“It’s called being conspicuous, genius. Now help me with the lab.” A young woman stepped out from the driver’s seat, her dark hair and outfit making her stand out against the grey and brown colour of the landscape. She moved to the sliding door to stand next to Scott, reaching for a large suitcase in the van. Next to it Peter spotted a young girl, not too far from his age.

“I mean, we travelled in a pretty fast jet for most of the trip, and 3 hours out you put us in a dingy van? I know there’s nicer cars in that case.” Scott refuted, carefully rolling the young girl over onto a group of blankets.

“Like I said, we need to lay low. Just get the lab.” She groaned, but Peter’s attention drifted to the opening passenger side door. From the seat stepped out Hank Pym, dressed more casually than Tony in long khaki pants and a loose dress shirt. Tony scoffed under his breath, but Peter could barely breathe. It wasn’t like when he walked into the apartment and saw Tony eating May’s date loaf, it was a lot more nerve wracking. When Tony showed up Peter was more surprised and dismissive about Spider-man, but with Hank Pym standing just a few feet away from him; it was insane.

“Mr Stark!” He greeted Tony with a bit of sarcasm, who returned in a similar tone.

“Please, call me Tony. Good to see you ready for work.” he glanced at the small case that Scott and Hope had pulled from the back of the van. Peter watched Hope pull the retracted handle and walk to the centre of the flat site before them, small reflections glinting from all sides of the case. Peter began to notice the very intricate details, including a delicate model of a satellite dish and a piece of metal reminding Peter of ventilation shaft (from all his time on roofs as Spider-Man, he had grown all too familiar with the size, shape and shine of an air vent). Hope began walking back to the group when Tony patted his hand on Peter’s shoulder again.

“This is my…” Tony hesitated, which Peter found slightly funny. What did Tony think of him? “Prodigee. Peter Parker” he finished.

“So, this is the kid that Empire Strikes Back-ed me back in Berlin.” Scott crossed his arms, swaggering his walk to stand next to Hank. Peter raised his hand in a small wave, Tony’s supportive pat releasing a nervous laugh. “That’s him.” he smiled, “Spider-Man, in the flesh.”

Hope laughed. “This kid? He took you down at Giant-Man height?”

“Hey, I got in some good hits!” he whined. Peter couldn’t help but feel a little proud of Spider-Man for coming up with the idea, and beamed when Tony patted his shoulder again. “Hey, he’s a smart kid, brought him along for a reason. Shall we get down to business?”

“Certainly.” Hank said, pulling a small remote from his pocket. He clicked the small, central button and within an instant, a giant breeze blew dust across the site, making Peter shield his face in instinct. When he looked up, in the place of the empty marked off area, was a huge square building, 10 stories tall.

“Woah.” Peter managed. The building itself looked quite old, judging by the scattered smashed windows and chipped concrete. If he hadn’t seen it grow 100 times the size before his very eyes, Peter would’ve called it an unassuming, long abandoned complex.

“Come along, I’d like to show you the lab.” Hank strolled forward through the glass doors, Hope and Tony in toe. Peter was about to follow when Scott called back at the group.

“Woah woah woah, wait a minute. Let me get Cassie.” he called, ducking back into the van. Peter watched him for a moment before he returned with the girl, rubbing her eyes and yawning. She wore a red cardigan and jeans, her brown hair messily falling past her shoulders. Peter could see the resemblance instantly between her and Scott, but noticed more from the glint in his eyes that Peter only saw when May talked to him: true adoration and love. “Sorry Peanut,” he said. “But hey! Spider-Man and Iron Man are standing right there, you can go say hi!”

Instantly the girl’s eyes lit up, a toothy smile and rosy cheeks staring Peter in the face. He smiled and waved when she walked up with Scott. “So you’re really Spider-Man?” she asked, the excitement in her voice making Peter laugh. Usually he wouldn’t divulge his identity to anyone, but he was sure Ant Man's kid would keep quiet about his real name.

“Yeah! My name’s Peter. And you’re Cassie, right?” Considering she looked about 10 or 11, Peter spoke as he would with any other adult; it wasn’t too long ago when he was that old, and hated it when people even a few years older would treat him like a baby.

“Uh-huh.” Cassie replied, letting go of her father’s hand and tugging on her cardigan. She stared at Peter for another moment before her eyes saw Tony, and she quickly walked up to meet him. Peter saw Scott walk up next to him after closing the van’s door, arms crossed and laughing slightly under his breath.

“Kids, pft. She’s got a superhero for a dad and finds more excitement in the guys he fought against.” The pair watched Cassie shake hands with Tony, Peter thinking he was being a lot more polite to her than anyone else here. Peter couldn’t help but chuckle, and caught Scott looking at him. The two had been in very similar situations around the time of the Avengers Clash (that position being the ‘new kid on the block, haven’t really got a side but there for their heroes’ position) and seemed to mutually agree without words they were alright, despite Spider-Man’s ingenious takedown of Giant Man. At least, this was what Peter hoped was happening in reality and not just his head, smiling as he and Scott walked together to meet the rest of the group at the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Thanks so much to everyone who's already supported this work, I couldn't believe it when I uploaded this first chapter and got such positive reviews! My heart just swells with all this, so thank you!
> 
> I'm super excited to share this with everyone, since I thought the world deserved a good SuperBugs team up and I hadn't seen too many. I'm writing as frequently as I can between my finals in a month's time and my graduation in like a week (yikes) so please be patient! But yeah, thanks for everything so far!
> 
> \- Grumple


	2. Regulating Relationships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter gets acquainted with the lab, Scott finds some unexpected advice useful and Cassie pets some ants.

Scott held Cassie’s hand in the elevator, the group of 6 squished into the small box. She was bouncing slightly from excitement, standing in between her father and Peter, who smiled down at her before glancing at Tony. Scott thought of the Spider-kid as nice enough, but seemingly a lot less confident out of his suit. But thinking of the similarity of their situations, equal initial wonderment at the shrinking lab and his politeness to his daughter, Scott justified Peter as an alright kid.

Tony Stark was another story completely. Scott had thought he had hidden his nerves quite well, deciding on the journey to New York that he would act cold and standoffish rather than pretend everything was fine; Tony Stark was an intimidating figure on his own, let alone when he held resent against you. He had seemed equally cold to him but very polite to Cassie, and hadn’t really said anything otherwise. He was a total mystery.

The elevator doors opened onto the lab, Hope and Hank stepping out quickly to let their guests marvel in the magnificence of the high-tech set-up. The room was flooded in lights bouncing off of the metallic surfaces and machinery, most of it natural light from the large windows looking out onto Queens. The blue and yellow lights glowing from hundreds of digital displays blended with the chrome of the whole space, reflecting off of the glass walls that separated different parts of the lab. Of the various machines and devices set up, Scott noticed the Quantum Tunnel still unlit, the completion of it tiresome and complicated; even for the combined logic of Hank and Hope. Scott hadn’t been able to contribute much because of his lack of extensive experience with Quantum mechanics and the lost memory of the Quantum Realm, but they all held hope that once they opened the tunnel, something would come back to him. 

Peter was positively in awe, Scott noticing his eyes absorbing every nook and cranny of the central room. Cassie’s grip tightened in Scott’s hand, Scott squeezing back with equal force. He remembered it was her first time seeing the lab too, and grew excited at the idea of showing her around. A group of enlarged ants strolled past the group, carrying a large metal plate for the Quantum Car (Scott had made up the name for the vehicle that could handle the Quantum Realm, but Hope and Hank refused to call it that when he first pitched the idea). Scott noticed a few more insects on different machines, some wearing special antennae helmets to show they were working, others seemingly running diagnostics on active machines. A vast majority were scuttering in or around the Quantum Tunnel, checking everything matched their programmed instruction standards.

Cassie gasped and pointed at the ants, waving at the few who looked at the new humans in their environment. Tony seemed slightly unnerved at the sight of the enlarged creatures, stepping forward to the workbenches, cluttered with Pym Particle Discs and miscellaneous wires. He poked at some of the parts on Scott’s makeshift station and regarded what he was working on.

“What is this, size regulation?” he said, picking up a fusion of wire and metal; it was the soon to be housing compartment of the unique Particle Disk Scott had to input his size into. He threw it back onto the bench, almost hitting an active Enlargement Disk.

“Woah! Careful there, we only have so much space for property damage in here!” Scott ran forward to shield the rest of his space. He refrained from shouting again when he noticed the look of irritation on Stark’s face, not wanting to risk a fight. Scott watched him with squinted eyes as he continued to saunter around different machines and worker ants. Glancing back at Cassie, she had attracted the attention of the ants who carried the metal plate. Now the material lay forgotten on the ground, as insects fought for her pats on their antennae and rub of the pincers.

“Tony, why don’t Hope and I show you to the model of the containment unit. I started working off of the blueprints you gave me and modified a few parts.” Scott wanted to laugh at Hank’s forced politeness, the gripe in his voice behind kind words the same tone he had heard too many times to count.

“Perfect, I can compare it to the one I whipped up last night.” Tony put a hand into his blazer, pulling out a triangular model from the inner pocket. It looked no bigger than his palm, but knowing the basics of nanotechnology and the real science of the Pym Particle, Scott knew it would have to become bigger if it was meant to be a housing unit for a whole Iron Man suit. 

“Pete, don’t be afraid to look around, yeah?” Tony looked over his shoulder before following Hank around through another glass door, Scott recognising it as the containment room. Peter nodded, gripping the straps of his backpack and rocking back on his heels. Scott watched the three travel deeper into the lab, their bodies disappearing behind glass walls and machinery. Hope widened her eyes at Scott, her gaze landing on Peter and Cassie before returning to him, and then disappearing behind the main wall of the containment chamber with the rest of her. Scott took the signal as an ‘I’m sure you’ll keep a good eye on them’ rather than a ‘make sure they don’t break anything you idiot’.

Scott decided to join Cassie on the floor, playing with some of the ants and giving them some otherwise missed attention. He gave Peter a stern “Don’t touch anything.” before almost forgetting him, the quiet kid simply walking around the lab and taking in every inch of the place. For 10 or so minutes the only noise came from the chirping ants and Cassie’s occasional laughter, until Peter yelped violently. Scott turned to see the young boy staring at a worker ant, pouting slightly and rubbing his hand. Scott couldn’t help but laugh.

“He bite you?” Scott asked, stifling a laugh. Peter nodded, shaking his palm. Scott noticed small red marks and a small trace of blood. “Wow, he got you good! Usually Dante doesn’t nip me that hard.”

‘Dante?” Peter looked confused, tilting his head. Scott was reminded of a young puppy, recognising the same eyes in his daughter.

“Yeah. I name most of the ants that work in here. This is Canto.” He pet one of the ants laying on its back, waiting for a belly rub. “There’s Chantelle over by my workbench, Oliviant is by the metal sheet over there and the one Cassie’s petting is Santa.”

‘So, every ant you give a name has the word ‘ant’ in their name?” Peter laughed a bit, sitting cross legged in between Scott and Cassie. He let Oliviant run up to him, pushing her head onto his slightly bleeding hand. He laughed again, and stroked her antennae.

“Pretty much.” Scott replied, smiling at Cassie and Santa. He seemed to like her a lot, clicking his pincers everytime she tickled around his back legs. There was another minute of silence, the three of them petting the ants and distracting them from their work.

“How long do you think they’ll be?” Peter asked, his legs spread out in front of him and letting Chantelle run across and over his knees. “I mean, Mr. Stark can get locked up in his lab for days, a lot of the time he doesn’t even sleep.”

“Ah, Hank and Hope’ll pull him outta there at some point, they’re too nervous about leaving me alone.” Scott smiled, watching a few of the ants tackle Cassie in a warm hug. Dante had grown jealous of the group it seemed, and abandoned his post to join the fun. He glanced at Peter, his eyes showing the concern he had for Stark. Was this kid really his mentee? They sure seemed closer, and from what Scott had heard about Tony Stark, he wasn’t the most kid-friendly guy on the planet. Another silence. 

Scott was sick of sitting and doing nothing, he needed something to do. He stood up and stretched, looking over at his workbench. The regulator only needed a bit more time, he should be able to finish it in the 20 or so minutes it would take for the others to return. Scott could feel Peter’s eyes on him as he approached the regulator pieces, picking up the tweezers and reviewing the fusion of wires he had made. He sighed, noticing the connector for the custom particle disk was negatively charged, and would shrink him less than half of a predetermined size.

“So, that is a regulator, right?” Peter spoke from behind Scott, his sudden appearance making Scott jump and drop the tweezers with a large clang. Cassie and Santa looked up, the ant’s pincers trying to braid the girl’s hair. She shrugged, and continued to let the ant weave her hair together in a messy plait. Scott took a deep breath, making sure he didn’t express his annoyance at this kid rubbing his nose in his business.

“Yeah.” he managed. “This is still a prototype suit, so when I change shape sometimes the resizing part messes up, and I get stuck shorter than Cassie. I’m trying to create a custom size disk that’ll reset me to my size, but,” he picked up the wire base and shook it threateningly. “This stupid base has a negative charge, which means I won’t shrink or grow nearly enough.” He threw the piece down, annoyed at the extra time it would take to reset the charge or refuse the wires; something that could take hours.

‘Oh.” Peter said, carefully picking up the pieces. He regarded the custom disk, reading Scott’s scribbled sharpie label ‘Reg. Size 4 S.’ on the side. “What’s the margin of error?”

“Half, since the positive’s still there but just not at full capacity.” Scott put his head in his hands, muffling his voice. He felt Peter moving next to him, picking up pieces and slotting them into place. 

‘Why don’t you just adjust the default size on the particle disk?” he said.

Scott raised his head from his hands. “Hm?”

“I mean, if the size on the disk was set to maybe half or double your size, the adjusted growth would shrink you to your normal height. That is, if it shrinks by exactly half of the intended input. And if the default on the disk can be set to two options based on either growth or shrinking.” Scott looked to see Peter’s eyes on him, questioning if his logic was correct. Scott thought for a moment. He could calibrate the disk to a smaller size, and technically the error margin should be close to exactly half because of the still existent positive charge.

He shrugged. “Worth a try.” Scott pushed himself off the table to Hope’s bench, where she had left the disk recalibrator. He input a new set of numbers into the system and scanned the custom disk, Peter hovering over his shoulder. It glowed green for a moment before reverting to a duller shade, powerless and disconnected. “So, all we need to do now is test your theory.” Scott said, plugging the disk into the wire base. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, prying the case from the back. He picked the small sticky tape strip from inside the case, revealing the shrunken Ant-Man suit stuck to the plastic. Scott laughed when he heard Peter gasp. “Could you watch Cassie for a minute?” he said, shaking the tiny suit between his pinched fingers. “Just while I-”

“Oh yeah, sure, yeah that’s fine!” Peter laughed, crossing his arms and leaning against another bench. His weight pushed it back, sending some of the metal pieces on it onto the ground and crashing together. He cringed, but tried to play it off with a wave of the hand. “I’ll just… yeah.”

Scott gave a thumbs up before heading to the elevator, the sleek doors closing behind him with melodic ding. Kicking off his shoes, Scott smiled to himself. Maybe he could have a really good time with this kid.

 

When Scott returned, Peter couldn’t help but stare for a moment. He had seen the Ant-Man suit before, but this one was different to what he remembered. It looked more defined and stronger, Peter identifying places where reinforced plating had been added. The belt was much thicker, Peter supposing this was to make room for the different size regulators. To top it all off, his helmet appeared much shinier, two red stripes coming from the eye panels mirroring an ant’s antennae and showcasing the very bold colour palette. Scott fully retracted the helmet into a fortified neck brace, showcasing a dumb smile. “Cool, right?” 

“Extremely cool.” Peter agreed. Cassie, who had been trying to get the ants back to work by helping carry around metal plating, had abandoned the insects and run over to her father.

“It’s awesome!” she cried, standing by Peter’s side. 

“Alright, let’s test out this theory, huh?” he said, opening a small compartment in his belt and left gauntlet. Peter stepped back and grabbed the modified particle disk and slot holder, gingerly balancing it in his palm. He held it out for Scott, letting him keep his hands free to set each component into place properly. When he was finished, Peter stepped back a few paces, clearing a larger space for Scott to grow. He noticed Cassie still a bit to close, and pulled her back a few steps. He was surprised when the young girl gripped his arm but didn’t shake her off.

Scott took a deep breath before squinting at his left hand, his thumb hovering over the growth button. He braced himself as the mask reformed around his face and he clicked the button, Peter realising he too was holding his breath and prepared to shield Cassie should Scott grow too much. With a sudden breeze and the sound of a large pop, Scott appeared on the ground, at least three times the size he was before. He tucked his body together to avoid knocking anything over, his head pressing against the ceiling. Peter couldn’t help but laugh out loud, a much more tame reaction compared to the first time he saw Scott grow and swore (Peter had felt bad for cursing and thought Tony would condemn him for it, but it never came up again).

“Yay Daddy!” Cassie threw up her hands and ran to hug her father’s enlarged leg. Scott’s chuckle was echoed by the mask, but it was nonetheless full of joy.

“Alright! I meant to do that!” he jeered. “And now…” he hesitantly put out his right hand, fiddling with the touchscreen on his gauntlet. With another push of a button, popping sound and gust of air, Scott was returned to his normal size. He and Peter simultaneously sighed with relief, and then laughed at their unison. Scott fiddled with his gauntlet once more before seemingly disappearing, Peter noticing his shrunken form standing in the middle of the floor. In growing again, he was restored to his exact measurements. “Aha! Success!” he shouted, his mask falling away into the rest of his suit. He opened his arms for Cassie to give him a big hug, picking her up spinning her around. Peter smiled at their happiness.

“Hey, thanks for the idea kid. Saved me a of of time and frustration.”

“Sure thing Mr. Lang.” Peter said, glowing at his appraisal. His smile faded when he saw Scott’s expression turn from joy to confusion.

“Woah, Mr. Lang?” He joked, imitating a posh accent. “I don’t think anyone’s ever called me that, and I rather it stay that way, OK? It’s Scott.”

Peter blushed. “Uh, yeah! And you can call me Peter, or Pete if you want. Or kid, or whatever.” he shrugged, walking over to one of the digital displays. He wasn’t positive, but the shapes and scaling suggested it was blueprints for the large tunnel being built in the centre of the lab. Peter leaned against the table, staring up at the ceiling and counting the large insulated triangles on the far left wall. He let Scott and Cassie enjoy their time together, the young girl chattering away, requesting her father to shrink to carry an object or summon another ant. Peter watched them for another 10 minutes before Scott returned to normal height, panting slightly.

“OK Peanut, Daddy’s a little worn out, can I have a minute?” his breaths were slow and gasping, some of them exaggerated for his daughter’s benefit.

“Can I call mommy then?” She asked in response, her hand on her back pocket, Peter noticing the bulge of a phone. “I promise I won’t tell her about any of--” she hesitated, but managed an innocent chuckle. “All of this.”

“Super duper promise?” Scott bent down, extending his pinky finger. Cassie extended her own and intertwined it with his. Scott shook her hand violently in the pinky promise until letting go, turning her into a small corner of the room. “Alright, pretend you’re playing hide and seek with me and you’re under the bed. Go!” Cassie ran off, her fingers tapping the screen wildly. Peter could hear her greet her mother, but diverted his attention to Scott, who had joined him leaning against the display. Peter wanted to avoid any more awkward silences, so he struck up a conversation.

“She seems happy to be here. Is it her first time seeing you like this?” Peter asked, his hand waving across the Ant-Man suit. Scott grinned.

“Ah no, but it is the first time she’s gotten to play with me and the suit, and boss me around like that. And it’s her first time in the lab too; usually we spend my weekends playing games, or watching movies, or building adventure tunnels. We’d be doing that right now if Hank didn’t make this deal.” Scott played with the fabric of his suit, tracing the border between metal and cloth. He muttered. “I’m surprised we came out here to be honest.” 

“Why?” Peter asked.

“Well, since Hank’s S.H.I.E.L.D days he’s always been against working with any Stark, and now after these Accords I thought he’d hate the whole, ‘let’s help Tony Stark make new superhero tech when he wants the FBI chasing us because we make said superhero tech’ idea.”

 

‘You guys are in trouble because of the Sokovia Accords?”

“‘Course. I mean, I fought on the side that was super against it, so anything to do with me is super against it too I guess.” Scott’s face had fallen a lot more sullen, glancing at Hank, Hope and Tony all talking over one of the energy containment units. He suddenly looked up in a moment of enlightenment and turned to Peter. “You signed them too, didn’t you? How are you still Spider-Man-ing all the time?”

“Actually, I never signed ‘em.” Peter chuckled, but seriously considered why he never had to commit to the Sokovia Accords. He hadn’t really understood them when Tony had come to recruit him, but within the matter of days Peter had travelled to Berlin, fought Captain America and returned home, no-one had ever brought it up. When he learnt about it in school some months later he had studied it carefully, and was surprised when he found out all the details. He was secretly thankful Tony had never mentioned it for Spider-Man; as a vigilante, Peter would have had to reveal his secret identity. Admittedly, he had forgotten about them until now.

“Seriously? I had to break the law to get out of that thing, and you get a free pass?” Peter expected Scott to be upset or angry at him, but looking up he seemed to be joking, smiling in his complaint. Peter shrugged, crossing his arms and relaxing against the display. He was once again counting the intricate panelling in the ceilings when the hairs on the back of his neck pricked up. The tug in his stomach aimed his gaze out the closest window where he saw a small cloud of dust rise from the distant horizon of buildings. His ears picked up the shrill tone of a siren and a misplaced scream. 

“Mr. Stark?” he called out in a panicked tone, moving closer to the window and trying to get a better view of the unfolding scene. He heard Tony and the others come up behind him, gaining a look at him. 

“Kinda busy here Pete. What?” Peter pointed at the window, where the dust was beginning to settle. The sound of a car horn echoed across the site, a distant sound of crashing metal and skidding tires following. Peter glanced back at Tony, who was tapping the side of his sunglasses with his eyes fixed on the dispelled cloud.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y, what’s going on over there?”

“A small explosion has erupted in the shopping district intersection. Armed men have been seen exiting a vehicle and aiming at passing civilians. Initial reports suggest heavy duty firearms and handheld explosives are present.” The AI’s Irish accent blended the words together, a combination of artificial worry and quickened pace only stressing Peter out more.

Tony hesitated for a moment before shaking his head, a notion Peter recognised when he was in a state of quick and pressure initiated thinking. “Alright, I’ll get out there, you keep the fort down, got it?” Tony checked the wireless call bracelets on his wrists, turning to the elevator door.

“Tony, you can’t leave.” Hank stepped in front of him, standing up to the billionaire's mixed expression of rage and question. He continued, but with a much more rushed tone. “The particles and nanobytes are unstable in the prototype, if we don’t stay and regulate them, they could seep past the containment unit and do unspeakable damage.”

Peter decided to save Hank from Tony’s inevitable retort, grabbing his backpack from the floor. “It’s OK Mr. Stark, I got this!” he said, finding his web shooters in the bag and throwing them onto his wrists.

“No way kid, stay here, this could be dangerous.”

“Come on Mr. Stark! I can handle this, it’ll be fine! Just let me get my suit-”

“No, you’re staying here.” 

“But Mr. Pym said that the particles might-”

“Yeah, they might mess up, but the model I made won’t fail.” Peter noticed the looks of irritation on Hank’s, Scott’s and Hope’s faces. Peter knew it was rude of Tony, but he had grown so used to is overbearing attitude that it barely phased him anymore. It was nice to see him exercising concern however, his tone growing more desperate saying “I’m not sending you into the frying pan when I don’t have to!”

“Please Mr. Stark!”

“No. I’m not letting you go out there. Not even with me.” Tony’s tone was heavy with finality, but Peter tried to fight it back with a determined glare. His hand was stuck in his bag, fingers grasped around the fabric of his suit. He was about to protest again but Scott interrupted him.

“What if he went with me?” he shrugged. “I mean, I’m already suited up and-”

“Like I’m gonna trust some criminal who tried to kill my friends any more than my kid!” Tony yelled, pointing at Scott threateningly. Peter was relieved to see he was quite calm, otherwise non-reactionary.

“Look, I know you don’t know me, but if there’s one thing about me you’re going to know, it’s that I only do crime that doesn’t hurt people, OK? That crosses my line.” He looked over at Cassie who was still in the corner, quietly chatting on her phone. “I didn’t start doing this to save my own skin, got it? I did it to protect my daughter. And those people out there? I bet they’ve got daughters too. Maybe. Or maybe some of them are daughters? Either way, I’m not gonna sit and watch from the sidelines.” Peter smiled at Scott, but noticed his gaze fixed on Hope. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, but Peter swore he saw the shadow of a smile on her lips. Scott kept his gaze on her. “And will the lady be joining us?”

“It’ll take me time to get my suit, but I can hurry.” She smiled. “Go ahead, I’ll catch up. You guys have to be first responders since the police won’t make it with the probable traffic.” Peter was beginning to realise how smart Hope Van Dyne actually was; he hadn’t even thought about the traffic obstruction that was surely piling up around the shopping district on a Saturday morning. Cassie suddenly came back from her phone call, looking cautiously at the anxious group.

“Daddy? What’s wrong?” she looked up at him, her arms folding around his right arm for support. He smiled down at her, but Peter knew it was the type of worried smile you showed kids when you didn’t want them to worry. He had seen May give him the same look all too many times, especially since Ben.

“Hey Peanut! There’s a couple of bad guys out there doing bad stuff right now, and I have to go get them. Will you stay here and defend the lab?” Scott’s voice became more gruff, like he was trying to say something serious but his over-acting made it sound like laughter. Cassie didn’t seem to mind.

“Yeah! But are you gonna be able to beat them?” she asked, Peter’s heart melting at the innocent concern in her eyes.

“Of course!” he kneeled down to be eye level with his daughter. He hugged her shoulders tight and rubbed her arms a bit, something Peter remembered May doing when he was stressed. “I mean, look at me, I’m the coolest superhero there is! And I’ll have Spider-Man and the Wasp with me! Right Mr. Tony Stark?” Scott looked at Tony with desperation, his expression very similar to Peter’s. There was a moment’s silence before the billionaire sighed, waving his hand at Scott to stand up.

“You keep an eye on him, alright? If there’s even a scratch on my kid there’ll be hell to pay.”

“No problem. Don’t worry, everything’ll be fine!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again! Hope you're enjoying what's been put out so far! All the science-y stuff has me a little stumped sometimes, but I did my very best to create a viable problem and solution for Scott's suit. Considering I've never studied nanotechnology, or Quantum physics or mechanics or anything, and there's no courses on the Pym particle, I think I did OK? Let me know!
> 
> Thank you again to so much who continues to support this work, I hope to bring you some good SuperBugs content! Look forward to the next chapter!
> 
> \- Grumple


	3. All's Fair in Love and Gang War

There were many things that were not fine about this situation, Peter thought, wriggling into the Spidey suit at lightning speed. He stuck himself to the window and began crawling on the outer wall of the building towards the roof. He spoke to his AI as he climbed over the roof’s thin parapet. “Hey Karen. Can you highlight the roof closest to the scene where I’m least likely to be spotted?”

“Certainly Peter.” she conjured a small window on the lens screen showing a roof with exposed brick walls and a petite ventilation shaft. As Peter was quickly calculating his swing route from the few cranes and scaffolds that scattered the construction site, a small voice appeared in his intercom. It was Tony.

“I’ve linked you in with Lang’s suit, and Pym’s daughter’s too once she gets into hers.”

“Her name’s Hope, Mr. Stark.” Peter said, speaking before he thought. He tended do that alot when he had the Spidey-suit on.

“Yes, I know that- whatever, just get over there, your… Karen… will update you on anything F.R.I.D.A.Y sees.” Tony had always found the name Peter chose for his AI weird, and never really liked saying it. Peter smiled at his rare mention of her given title.

A small buzzing appeared close to Peter’s head, the sound coming from a minuscule flying ant with a small human rider. Peter couldn’t really tell what Scott was doing, but from the tiny raised hand he assumed it was a thumbs up. With one last check of his web shooters and excess web refills, Spider-Man took off, sprinting from the roof and shooting at a raised crane. The web weight made the abandoned metal creak slightly, but Spidey’s arc was smooth and fast. He launched himself forward, letting go of the web very quickly and shooting towards the first street lamp. He swung tight under the pole, barely grazing the glass light cover. He shot upwards into the sky, zipping one web to propel him forward to the first two storey building. Swinging low and fast between the quiet suburbia, Spider-Man approached the shopping district. Peter allowed his enhanced senses take in the upcoming scene, the smell of gunpowder, gasoline and dirt appearing under his nose. His goosebumps set off again when a gunshot fired through the air, pushing strength into his final swing.

Spider-Man came to the red-brick building Karen had highlighted, in reality it being a small flower shop topped with two floors of apartments. He crawled up the roof quickly, careful to listen out for anyone in danger. He reached the roof, creeping carefully across the cement ground. He looked over the edge, the road’s intersection another 60 feet away. The converging streets were piled with abandoned cars, the vehicles assembled in uncomfortable positions and leaving just enough room for the doors to open and free the drivers. Said civilians were kneeling in the middle of the road, a small circle of 30 people surrounding two figures. One was kneeling, Peter noticing their small stature and shaking body, the other holding a large, semi-automatic gun. He was a heavily built guy, all 6 feet of him clad in grey clothing. The only exception was the woollen ski mask he wore to cover his face, which was a shocking yellow.

Ant-Man landed on Spider-Man’s shoulder, looking at the scene ahead of them. Peter spoke quietly into his intercom. “We can’t see everything from here, you should probably do some recon. That cool?”

“Yeah alright. You think we should get a code name or something? Or like a signal so you know when to bust in and start webbing ‘em up?”

“Uhhh, what’d you think of… Superbugs? Y’know, ‘cause we’re both like, bug guys?” Peter said, tenacious about the name pitch. In reality, he had been thinking of the name for months after Ned joked with him about three Avengers being named after insects and making a sub-team (“Black Widow’s the hottest out of all of you though, sorry to break it to you” he had added).

“I think I’m gonna like you a lot kid.” Peter could practically hear Scott smile, which made his heart soar with confidence. The suit locked on to Ant-Man as he took flight on his ant, landing on a mailbox beside a heavy duty jeep. Spider-Man crawled closer to the edge of the roof, trying to get a better view of the obscured corner of the intersection. 

“We’re not here to play games, and we’re not here to kill anybody! So let’s make this simple!” Peter could see it was the armed man in the circle of civilians speaking, raising his gun to the shaking figure's head. “Tell me where you saw the guy in blue go!”

“I don’t know!” the crouched figure was crying, shouting with a strangled voice in cupped hands. “He c-c-came into my sh-o-o-op like anyone else! He bought a-a-a bucket of blue candy mix, and he left! I didn’t see hi-is car! Please, I have a family!” The man showed his face, tears falling into his aged moustache. Peter recognised him as Mr Almendarez who ran the corner shop; he was a fan of Spider-Man, and had a cut out of him from a newspaper hung behind the counter. Peter’s teeth clenched with anger seeing him mistreated like this, since he had been so nice to Spidey, Peter and everyone else who had stepped foot in his business.

“How many guys are there?” Peter spoke into the intercom, counting only the main suspect and three other men in his field of vision.

“6 of them. Guy in the middle, guy chilling in the van and one guy at each street corner.” Peter watched Scott fly from the mailbox into the group of civilians, perching on the ground in between a young woman and an elderly man. “Man, did these guys coordinate their clothes? Didn’t get the memo that grey was in this season.”

“Yellow ski masks too?” Peter asked, quickly leaping to the next roof over. He was careful to hide behind the parapet when his footsteps attracted the attention of one of the civilians, a middle aged man looking up and seeing a flash of red. Peter hoped he wouldn’t cause a fuss, and took a breath of relief when he glanced at the man again, now looking at the ground.

“Yeah, and their van has this weird yellow symbol on it. Looks a bit like a lightning bolt, but curvy? Or is it meant to look more like a key?”

“Might be a gang operation then.” Peter tried to spy on the vehicle Scott spoke of, but it was parked on the pavement under him. He thought for a moment before glowing at a sudden idea, speaking to Karen again. “Activate Spider-drone.” he said, watching the spider-shape pop out of his chest logo. He waved at Droney as the display appeared behind his lens, the screen showing Spider-Man’s face and squinted eyes. “Mr. Stark, can you scan the symbol on the van for known gang organisations?”

“Got it Pete.” As Droney began to move based on Tony’s direction, Peter dismissed the display and diverted his attention back to the lead Yellow-Mask. Mr Almendarez was pleading, his head on the ground and hands clasped above him. Peter’s senses were warning him that any second something will explode, he just wasn’t sure if it was a bomb, or Yellow-Mask’s violent rage. Tony’s voice appeared, a yellow logo appearing before Peter’s display. “They’re called Hectic, an underground gang. Pretty petty crimes on record but there’s investigations about weapons dealing around them. Cops have been adamant about catching ‘em though, they’ve been hard to track.”

“Scott, I can take out the border guys, but I’ll need a distraction. And you’re pretty good at those.” Peter readied his stance, bouncing on his heels and preparing for a large jump.

“Alright, on my signal.” Scott said, the end of his sentence coinciding with Yellow-Mask’s gun connecting to Mr. Almendarez’ head. In the span of two seconds, Scott screamed “Superbugs!” and grew to full size, Peter shooting an Impact Web at the guard stationed on the furthest street. The webbing threw him backwards, white now plastering him to a wall and crowding his mouth. With the sudden appearance of a new, weirdly dressed human now standing in the intersection, the guard’s take down went unnoticed by the others. 

“What’re you supposed to be?” The lead thug’s voice dropped a few octaves, much gruffer and gravelly; he was trying to disguise it.

“Seriously? Ever heard of Ant-Man? At all?” Ant-Man kicked a small rock on the pavement, disappointed. Peter laughed, quickly crawling around to the next building across on the edge of the intersection. “Man, I thought it would be a whole thing, and you’d be like ‘woah it’s Ant-Man!’ And be all surprised… guess we have to make it less fun.” He said, arching a huge punch and clocking the thug in the face. Mr Almendarez rolled away as the thug stumbled back, surprised at the force. He raised his gun in time with Ant-Man’s shrinking and another shot from Spider-Man, incapacitating another one of the guards. Yellow-Mask was pointing it around frantically, now shouting at the civilians.

Spider-Man was cautious, but willing to let Ant-Man stall for a few more minutes while he took down the rest of the guards as quietly as possible, watching as the small hero grew to full size again and attempted to start a conversation with Yellow-Mask. He raised the gun again, but seemed to confused to shoot. Spidey aimed his gaze at the van below him, wondering if he could somehow web up the door handle… but the thought appeared distant when the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, somehow more than they already were. He heard sirens in the distance, three blocks away at most.

“Mr Stark, are those the police?” Peter spoke into the intercom.

“Yep. Better act fast kid, I’ve got a feeling they’re not gonna show a lot of mercy to these guys.”

“They wouldn’t do anything that bad with civilians around though, would they?” Scott spoke quietly into his mask.

“Usually no, but Hectic is high priority. Plus, they might not be so nice about the superhero thing.” Tony muttered, his voice trailing away as if distracted. A moment’s silence was interrupted by the gruff voice of Yellow-Mask.

“Who’re you talkin’ to?” He thrusted his gun at Ant-Man, Peter’s senses warning him that he was just about ready to pull the trigger. Scott started talking when Hope’s voice appeared on the intercom channel.

“I’m two minutes out. What’s the plan?” She asked, Peter picking up the sound of fluttering wings near her microphone. He sighed, and stood up on the roof’s edge.

“OK, so we’re doing this.” Spider-Man sighed, leaping from the building and onto the nearest street-lamp. In a swift motion he bounced from the light and flipped, shooting three short webs from his wrists. Two of the webs found the hands of the remaining street guards, the third latching itself to the door of the van, trapping the henchmen inside. In this space of a few short seconds Peter’s senses also hit max capacity, finally being relieved when Yellow-Mask shot at Ant-Man in frustration, who shrunk and dodged it easily. What was most curious was the bullet that came from the semi-automatic barrel; it wasn’t a bullet at all, but a neon yellow pellet that fired sparks when it hit the mailbox.

Spider-Man landed in a squat, straightening himself before the group of cowering civilians. Some of them looked up in relief at the familiar hero, others continued grovelling, fearful of another shot. Ant-Man grew by his side, the two standing about 5 feet away from Yellow-Mask, divided only by some of the hostages. 

“Now there’s somebody I recognise. Spider-Man.” He addressed the young hero with a voice that could’ve been mistaken for cordial respect, but Peter knew better that to trust such a saccharine tone. “Heard of your work, valiant stuff. Put my cousin in jail not too long ago for attempted robbery.”

“He shouldn’t have been attempting to rob that house in the first place if you ask me.” Spidey responded, Peter feeling his adrenaline and confidence swell. He wasn’t scared of the person in front of him, and now only hoping to play for time. “Speaking of not doing things,” he continued. “Don’t you think you should not be trying to kill people on a Saturday morning? Traffic’s bad enough as is!”

“What me and my friends here do is none of your business, kid, never has been before and never will be.” Peter heard the tread of the other guards behind him, not stepped by the webs around their hands. Curiously, the man in the van remained still. Peter hated it when villains were quiet: it was more suspicious, like they had a plan. Peter just hoped that his plan would counter whatever was going on. Ant-Man took a few steps forward, arms crossed.

“It might not be Spider-Man’s business, but it’s definitely my business now. Stand down, and let these people go.” He said, Peter surprised at the amount of strength in his voice. It was the most serious he had heard him, and whilst it was weird to associate such sternness with the goofy figure he had gotten to know very quickly, it was admirable. Yellow-Mask responded with a hollow laugh (one of the evil ones Peter had heard from every single Disney movie villain) and aimed his gun again, but was promptly interrupted by another punch to the face. The Wasp had suddenly grown in front of him, bopping him one with a right hook and backflipping to join the other heroes. Yellow-Mask screamed and fired the gun, missing the three completely. Spider-Man was about to go off about the pathetic shot, but grimaced as he watched the bullet ricochet off one of two new vans bearing the Hectic symbol, pulling up behind the piled cars in the surrounding streets. Four men came from each vehicle, some silver knuckles of staffs clenched in each of their grasps. Spider-Man eyed the henchmen still in the original van, now grinning at the heroes from the safety of his entrapment. He had called for backup.

Including Yellow-Mask and Van Man there were now 12 against 3. Spider-Man groaned, readying his stance and staring down the members of one of the new vans. “I did not think this is how I would be spending my Saturday.”

 

So far, Scott had been overwhelmingly impressed with Spider-Man. Sure, he had seen him at work in Germany fighting against him, but watching his dynamic with real villains and his stealth attacks was a whole different thing. Combined with the new knowledge of his real age and otherwise nervous wreck personality? Crazy. But Scott would have to put his parise aside temporarily, as he faced off against two semi-webbed guards and another group of four fresh faces. 

The two webbed men charged at him first, Ant-Man simultaneously jumping and shrinking to land on the first man’s stomach. He kicked off hard, flipping backwards and hitting the underside of his webbed hands. The henchmen struck himself in the face thanks to Ant-Man’s force, winded even more from the approximate kick to the gut. Ant-Man jumped onto the second guard’s foot, who was thoroughly confused and had no idea where to look for the tiny hero. Ant-Man thought he must’ve felt his tiny weight on his his shoes however, as he was suddenly launched into the air. He was propelled high enough that when he grew, his foot made contact with the assailant's nose, pushing him backwards into his slowly recovering friend. The two tumbled to the ground in a heap, breathing heavily behind their woolen yellow masks. All while this was happening, the Superbugs hero had a conversation through their intercoms.

“And what took you so long Hope?” Scott jeered, catching a glimpse of her fighting Yellow-Mask in a flurry of lasers and yellow bullets. 

“Shut up and focus Scott, these guy’s weapons are charged with electromagnetic energy.” she groaned back at him, her breath unchanged even through serious attacks. “One hit and you’ll be seriously shocked.”

“Hope, you gotta be careful out there, Scott, you too.” Hank’s voice appeared on the radio, filling Scott’s heart with joy at his senior’s concern.

“Aww Hank, you’re worried about me? You really do care!” He smiled, genuinely excited at the thought that their relationship had grown so much even with the blunder of Germany.

“No you idiot, I’m worried about the suit I know isn’t tolerant to huge bursts of electricity! That’s expensive and delicate tech in there, and the Pym Particle may be accustomed to many things, but it isn’t exactly non-reactionary to raw electricity.” Scott heard the old man scoff, probably resting his hands on a table to support himself. He would’ve liked to shoot some wit back at Hank, something about truly caring under a steely persona, but he was eminently distracted by the oncoming group of criminals. Sparks flew from their hands, surging around the silver weapons. He wondered briefly how the skin on their hands wasn’t affected, but through his mask he saw the reflective sheen of a pale fabric wrapped around their arms and fingers. Scott assumed it was shock-absorbent or repellent material, like he had seen in some of the inventions Hank had devised in the lab. Ant-Man shrunk quickly to try lose their gaze but to no avail, one of the four throwing his staff to the ground and narrowly missing the tiny hero. Scott felt his skin crawl and hair stand on end at the electricity surging in the air; being tiny wasn’t going to be a huge help so close to electric currents like this. He sprinted a few feet before growing again, raising his arm and upper-cutting the man closest to him. His fist connected with the man’s chin, knocking him backwards into one of the others. Scott ducked as he heard sparks behind him, narrowly dodging a direct hit from a silver-knuckle punch.

The intercom fizzed in and out in combat with all the electricity in the air and surging so close to all the heroes’ helmets, but through the static and grunts of physical effort, Scott heard Peter’s voice, strangled and shaking. Tony Stark’s response was almost a scream, had he not composed himself and tried turning it into a cough.

“Peter? You OK kid?” he asked, Scott taking a moment to glance towards Spider-Man. The figure toppled and struggled for a moment before stabilising, staring down one masked man shaking his silver fist and cackling.

“I’m fine Mr. Stark, just got me in the arm is all.” Spider-Man subsequently shot a web towards the man’s feet, pulling hard and tripping him over. Scott grinned knowing the kid would be fine, and returned to face his own group. Two of them had backed off towards the van as the others approached Ant-Man again, the one holding a staff pointing it forward and sending darts of electricity shooting outwards. Scott dodged them easily, shrinking only for a moment to generate a large jump, growing when his foot was in the guy’s face. Scott tried backflipping off his head (he had been practicing his flips lately, trying to impress Cassie) but failed, performing a half somersault and tumbling into the last man’s torso. The thug groaned under Scott’s weight, flailing around trying to hit him. Ant-Man shrunk one last time and jumped to the man’s forehead, kicking off hard and launching his head into the concrete - enough to knock him out, but not so hard he would suffer brain damage or anything worse.

Scott turned his attention back to the central square, where The Wasp stood triumphant over Yellow Mask, who was screaming in between heavy breaths after being knocked onto the ground. Spider-Man approached as well, having trapped his last criminal beneath a large webbed net stuck to the road. Before Yellow Mask could rise again, he shot two quick webs at his right hand and left foot, cementing him to the street. The three Superbugs stood side by side, standing over the gang members with satisfaction; the battle had been won.

“And stay down!” Spider-Man jeered, leaning over the defeated man with his hands on his hips.

“Nice job kid.” Tony Stark’s voice carried the same satisfaction when he addressed Peter, reminding Scott of the way he told Cassie how proud she was at her public speaking competition. Peter spluttered a reply of thanks, catching his breath but conveying nothing but joy.

“The cops will be there soon.” Hank’s voice appeared again, almost in tune with the sound of oncoming sirens. “You guys better get outta there-”

Hope interrupted her father, staring directly at the manhole a few feet ahead of her. “Wait a second, something’s moving there.” The lid shifted in its mold, bouncing as if someone was trying - and failing - to pop it off. The three heroes aimed directly at it in a triangle formation, all waiting anxiously for a new group of assailants when-

“Can somebody help me get this thing off?” A low but somewhat giggly voice came from the manhole, magnified by the earpieces in the heroes’ helmets.

They hesitated for a moment before Scott called out; “Why should we?”

“Because,” the voice replied, bursting into a fit of laughter, “It’s stuck, ha, ha, ha, heh, and my little, heh, heh, fingys can’t push through the holeys, ha, ha!” Ant-Man shrugged at the others, who were surely as confused as he was behind their masks. Spider-Man aimed a web at the manhole cover and pulled on it, the lid flying off with ease and revealing a shaggy looking man with dark hair and pale skin, his arm wrapped around the slimy sewer ladder and hands above his face, blocking the sun from his eyes. Even with the shadows blocking most of his face, Scott could see the bloodshot and dilated eyes, the cracked yellowing teeth and reddish complexion; this guy used drugs, a lot.

“Well thanks pardner.” He saluted to Spider-Man, who simply stood watching in disbelief as this man slowly climbed out of the hole and into the street. He was revealed to be wearing all blue clothing in surprisingly immaculate condition, navy blue dress pants complimented by a pale blue sweater. Looking at him now, his hair was combed back and stuck with a fair amount of styling gel, and his hands were clean and well manicured. From afar you might have mistaken him for some clean businessman who lived on the Upper East Side, but it was upon closer inspection you noticed his grimy face and the smell of sewage lingering around him. “Well, well, well.” he continued, having composed himself from the bout of laughter. He strode over to Yellow Mask with his hands in his pockets, staring down at him with what Scott thought was disappointment. “This has been fun, hasn’t it?” he tutted slightly, kicking at the webbing round Yellow Mask’s hand. The latter huffed, now remaining overly quiet. The Blue Man’s foot became trapped in the webbing for a moment, being pulled away with enough force and a surprisingly mad grunt.

“Who are you?” Hope had the gall to ask first, aiming her laser shooters at the man. He laughed again, but it was more hollow and cold now. Scott thought that this guy was either insane, or had sobered up extremely quickly. 

“Call me Mr. Blue, I’m a representative of Zipher.”

“Zipher?” Peter repeated. “Like ‘cipher’, but with a ‘Z’?”

“Exactly m’boy.” Mr. Blue bent down by Yellow Mask’s head, stroking the yellow wool as if her was caressing his lover. “My little friend here has made a bit of a mess, hasn’t he? My sincerest apologies.” He retracted a Swiss Army Knife from his pocket, the three heroes readying their equipment at the sight of a weapon. Scott was preparing to shrink at any given second when suddenly his body screamed in pain, his back on fire and sending shivers throughout his veins. Turning to the others he saw their bodies surrounded by a pale blue electricity, their gasps barely audible over his own and the deafening feedback coming from the shorted-out intercoms. Looking down at himself he saw the currents surrounding his legs, torso and arms, supplied by three metallic balls floating around elbow height that Scott hadn’t noticed their before. The Superbugs were frozen with paralysis, forced to watch as Mr. Blue cut Yellow Mask free from the webs, slowly dragging him towards the manhole cover.

“Truly, I am sorry about this.” he smiled at the group, giggling again as he stared straight at Ant-Man and gave him a thumbs up. He pushed Yellow Mask down into the hole, waiting to hear the thud of his body hit the ground. Scott didn’t hear it over his own agony. Mr. Blue, happy with what he had done, waltzed over to the discarded manhole cover. He brushed off Spider-Man’s webbing, humming to himself and kicking the lid just next to the opening in the ground. He giggled “Toodaloo!” before dropping into the hole himself, his hand appearing for one more moment only to slid the lid back over the mould. Simultaneously, Scott felt a huge relief as he collapsed onto the ground, no longer restricted by the electricity. The metal balls that had been charging the trap had also fallen to the ground, the one nearest Scott having broken into 6 smaller pieces. He outstretched his hand and grabbed a few, closing it tightly in his fist. The intercom still buzzed, but it had quieted enough so Scott could again hear the voices of the two scientists back at base.

“Hope? Scott? Can you hear us? What’s happening?” Hank’s voice sounded far away, but his concern echoed loud and clear.

“Pete? Hey Peter? Come on kid talk to me!” Stark sounded severely distressed, as if he had been the one electrocuted, not his young student.

“I’m… alright… Mr. Stark, just a little shocked is all” Peter breathed heavily; Scott noticing his pun and chuckled, later seeing Peter’s arm outstretched towards the manhole as if he was trying to grab it. Hope had doubled over into the recovery position, but she began to rise slowly.

“I’m OK Dad.” She heaved. Her hand found Scott’s shoulder, which was a lot closer to her than he previously thought. “You OK?” she asked.

“Yeah.I’ll be fine” He huffed, pulling himself up and onto his knees with great difficulty. His joints popped and cracked like an old man’s, a sudden and misplaced spark shooting up his spine and making him gasp. Spider-Man had risen next to him, extending his hand in assistance. Ant-Man graciously accepted it, patting Spidey on the back and joining him in helping the Wasp up as well.

“You guys need to get back here, now.” Hank said over the intercom. “Unless you wanna deal with the cops on your tail.” Turning around Ant-Man saw the squadron finally arriving, the first responders checking in the few civilians that hadn’t fled the scene. The Superbugs looked at each other for a suspended second, all deciding at the same moment that it was now the time to flee. Ant-Man quickly shrank and jumped onto the Wasp’s shoulder as she took off, closely followed by the Spider-Man that shot a long web onto a nearby lamp post and launched himself into the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! Long time no see!
> 
> So apologies for my very long absence, let's just say the past couple months have been a bit hectic. I have since graduated, took and received the results for my finals, got a second job and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I'm happy to say that I'll be continuing writing this (as well as a little late Christmas boy that should be coming up soon) and updates will be a little more common! Thank you all for your patience and I hope you continue to read and enjoy this little project!
> 
> xx Grumple


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